


It Was Supposed To Be You

by noaoats



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, But does he?, F/M, Hawkmoth wins, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, angst and hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-27 05:39:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21113594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noaoats/pseuds/noaoats
Summary: Gabriel gets his wish.A life for a life.





	It Was Supposed To Be You

Marinette was still kneeling, her hands shaking as they hovered above the pile of dust on the ground. Her mind had frozen, incapable of processing what had occurred right in front of her. Her lips trembled as she slightly shook her head. “Wait,” she whispered to no one. “Wait. Wait.”

Someone was screaming behind her, but she was having trouble parsing out the words. It felt like her brain was in a fog. The dust hadn’t been there a minute ago, but now it was there. It was new. It had replaced someone. That someone was gone. But that couldn’t be right.

Her fingers gently touched the gray powder in front of her and sifted it, as if she was looking for something, someone. But it was just dust. She touched her cheek with the same hand, though it was sure to smear the dust on her cheek. But that didn’t matter. Something terrible had happened. She just needed everything to wait.

There was a strong grip on her shoulder as she was thrown to the ground. Instead of rolling to brace herself she let her body slam into the tile floor. It should have hurt, but she couldn’t feel anything over the loud buzzing in her ears. Someone was still shouting, and it took her a moment to realize that the screams were coming from a man standing above her.

M Agreste. He was sweaty and shaking and pointing at her in rage. “It was supposed to be you!” he cried. The earrings had turned black and the ring on his hand was silver now, but the kwamis were missing. Marinette didn’t know when he had de-transformed, but he was dishevelled and sobbing. “It should have been _you!_”

She stared up at him in confusion, refusing to accept what happened. “Wait,” she told him, though she wasn’t certain she had spoken aloud. Everything was too loud and all that mattered was the smeared pile of dust on the floor to her right. “Wait. No. No.”

“WHY WASN’T IT YOU?!” he screamed. It looked as though he might kick her, but instead his feet gave out from under him and he collapsed. She ignored him to curl tighter and stare down at the dust on her fingers. Her hands hadn’t stopped shaking, and she could feel her breath growing rapid as visions of what just happened flooded her.

He had gotten the Miraculous. He had made his wish. A life for a life, his eyes on her. But then Adrien had wheezed. Adrien had fallen. Her partner had disappeared within seconds. And then there was dust where Adrien had been.

Her vision grew fuzzy as tears bloomed in her eyes and she gasped, the dust still on her fingers. “No. No.” Adrien couldn’t be gone. He had just been there. He had held her hand only fifteen minutes ago. They were supposed to win. They were supposed to save Paris together. Ladybug and Chat Noir were supposed to save Paris _together_.

“What have I done?” M Agreste was crying to himself now, face buried in his hands. His shoulders were shuddering, his glasses lying discarded a few feet away. “Oh god, _what have I done?_” He screamed in anguish and shrank into himself.

She needed Tikki. She needed Adrien. Marinette couldn’t accept what had happened and she continued to shake her head, gasping for air as tears streamed down her face. Where had they gone? Where were they? She was all alone with Hawkmoth, with Gabriel Agreste, with Adrien’s father. And Adrien wasn’t there. He wasn’t grabbing her hand or laughing or teasing or correcting her homework or smiling in a way that melted her heart. He was gone, and she didn’t know where he was. He had been there and then he hadn’t. It had only been seconds.

Gabriel wheezed. “I can take it back. I can do it again.” He unsteadily sat upright, his hands shooting to the dormant earrings in his lobes. “Spots on! Spots on!” When no light washed over him, he closed his eyes and grabbed his ring in terror. “Claws out! PLEASE!”

“It… it won’t work,” she whispered from her fetal position next to him. He grew quiet and stared at her. She willed herself to keep speaking. “They have to recover... It could take years.”

“No.”

“And they can’t-” Her voice broke there, and she willed herself not to break down. Not yet. She sniffed and tried again. “They can’t redo a wish. It’s done.”

“No! It can’t…” He reached out and grabbed her ankle, but not in anger. He was desperate and needed her to understand. “It can’t end like this. He’s my _son_.”

She stared back at him but couldn’t speak. She had already used all of her energy. The buzzing at the back of her mind was still threatening to overwhelm her.

He squeezed her leg tighter. “No, don’t you get it? It was supposed to be _you_. Why didn’t _you _die?!”

Marinette just shook her head, her eyes hot and burning. She didn’t know. Marinette didn’t know. Why couldn’t she have been the one who left? Why did it have to be him? Adrien had been the best part of all of this, and now he was…

The dust was still on the floor. It was still on her fingers. Still on her cheek. And Adrien wasn’t there.

There was a timid cough from above, and Marinette blinked to see a woman standing over her. She was tall and willowy, with light blonde hair that cascaded down her shoulders. She had a striking resemblance to Adrien and Marinette’s heart plummeted. She knew who she was. She knew what had happened. But seeing her standing there caused Marinette’s mind to blank. This wasn’t right. This wasn’t supposed to be like this.

“Excuse me, are you alright?” the woman asked, leaning over. “I was just sleeping, I think… I don’t know where I am, or- Gabe?” She walked closer to M Agreste, a hand raising to rest above her chest. “Gabriel, is that you? You look… What’s happened here?”

M Agreste kept staring at Marinette. His mouth was opening and closing as if searching for the right thing to say, but it never came to him. His hand left her ankle and it dropped back to his lap as he choked. “E-Emilie?”

Marinette closed her eyes and pressed herself into the floor.

**Author's Note:**

> :( find me on [tumblr](https://noaoats.tumblr.com/)


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